Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Santa Monica Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Santa Monica, California 90405
Friday, April 18, 2014 13:40 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On April 18, 2014, about 1340 Pacific daylight time (PDT), a McDonnell Douglas Helicopter (MDHI) 500N, N522GS, right rear landing gear strut failed during landing, and while attempting to set the helicopter on the ground, the front strut also collapsed at Santa Monica Airport (SMO), Santa Monica, California. The owner/pilot was operating the helicopter under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The private pilot and three passengers were not injured; the helicopter sustained substantial damage to the front landing gear structure. The local personal flight departed Camarillo, California, about 1315, with a planned destination of Santa Monica. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.
The substantial damage to the helicopter was not discovered until the maintenance facility began to repair the helicopter. On June 19, 2014, NTSB was notified and provided photographs of the structural damage to the helicopter and determined the damage was sustantial.
The landing gear strut assembly has been removed from the helicopter and sent to McDonald Douglas Helicopters, Inc., (MDHI) for further examination.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/18/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1340 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Santa Monica |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90405 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340058N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1182705W |
| Event Location Airport | SANTA MONICA MUNI |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SMO |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 6806 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 73 |
| Airport Elevation | 177 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2051 Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 109 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSMO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 175 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 20 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.92 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KSMO 182051Z COR 24008KT 10SM FEW035 20/12 A |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA WP Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 25 2014 7:17PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N522GS |
| NTSB Number | WPR14LA253 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | MCDONNELL DOUGLAS HELICOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | 500N |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | LN056 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | V & A AVIATION LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | PACIFIC PALISADES |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 902722216 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | V & A AVIATION LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | PACIFIC PALISADES |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 902722216 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CMA |
| Departure City | CAMARILLO |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1315 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | SMO |
| Destination City | Santa Monica |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 25 2014 7:23PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |